Curt Clawson wins Florida House primary

Curt Clawson won the special GOP primary in Florida’s 19th District on Tuesday, becoming the favorite in the general vote in June to replace former GOP Rep. Trey Radel in southwest Florida for the rest of this year.

The manufacturing executive and former Purdue basketball player swept past three other Republicans, fueled by $3.4 million of his own money and tea party support, as well as an endorsement from Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Clawson emerged from an intra-GOP fight marked less by substantive disagreement on the issues than by negative attacks and outside spending. The race was triggered when Radel, a freshman lawmaker, resigned in January after pleading guilty to misdemeanor cocaine possession.

“I certainly hope the track they take is a different one than our previous congressman,” said Lee County Republican Chairman Terry Miller in a phone interview before the election on Monday. He decried the tone of the campaign but said each candidate worked hard.

A Super Bowl TV ad that aired locally, featuring Clawson challenging President Barack Obama to a three-point contest, helped the Republican make his mark on the district.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon congratulated him, saying in a statement that “throughout his campaign, Curt has outlined his conservative principles on how he will stop Obamacare from hurting Florida families, grow the economy and get Washington’s spending under control.”

State Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto was in a neck-and-neck race for second, at 26 percent, when the race was called. Benacquisto won the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and several conservative women’s groups. A super PAC spent almost $700,000 supporting her and opposing Clawson, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Aside from self-funding, she outraised her opponents, according to FEC filings.

Clawson also overcame the opposition of a super PAC backing former state Rep. Paige Kreegel, who had run against Radel for the seat in 2012. That group spent $1.3 million on the race. Kreegel was at 25 percent when the AP called the contest.

All told, the outside dollars in the contest added up to almost $2.2 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In one mark of the race’s confrontational tone, Benacquisto, Kreegel and the fourth candidate, Michael Dreikorn, teamed up against Clawson late in the contest to hold a press conference and jointly question Clawson about past real estate dealings with a man who turned out to be a convicted sex offender. Clawson denied knowledge of the man’s past and showed up at the press conference.

Turnout in the primary was on track to be low. Ballots representing about 34 percent of registered Republican voters had been counted by the time the race was called, according to the Associated Press.

The most recent poll of the race, conducted by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling for local news outlets last week, found Clawson leading Benacquisto among likely voters, 38 percent to 19 percent.

Clawson is expected to defeat the Democratic and Libertarian candidates in the June 24 special general election in the heavily Republican district.

Tuesday’s trailing Republican candidate, Michael Dreikorn, has already vowed a rematch in the regular August primary.